1. American law enforcement is extraordinary. This case was wrapped up with remarkable speed–with the help of surveillance cameras and, it seems likely, our ability to trace cell phone calls. Both of these tools have been controversial among civil libertarians–and indeed, in the days since the Boston attack, there have been those on the left who have warned against further government intrusion into our lives. I am not at all worried about that, not even slightly…because this is a country that, if anything, errs on the side of libertarian excess–as witnessed by the Senate’s disgraceful vote against background checks for guns, and the various tweets and noise pollution about the post-Boston need for armed citizens to defend themselves against terrorist marauders. I do not see how armed civilians would have made a difference in this case. In fact, those killed or wounded by gunfire this week in Boston were police officers (although I’m not sure the MIT campus police officer was armed).

2. Do not extrapolate. There is talk now that this will affect our immigration debate, or our gun control debate, or raise issues about the President’s vigilance against terrorism. These are the very sorts of arguments–tiny, tawdry political arguments–that disgust the overwhelming majority of Americans who (a) stood together, with Boston, after the attacks and (b) celebrated the swift resolution of the case and (c) appreciated and were moved by Obama’s extraordinary address at the memorial service. These extrapolations are also specious because…

3.The government has been extremely successful in stopping other terrorist attempts. Rudy Giuliani, known for his intemperance on occasion, took to the airwaves after the capture of the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to say that both the Bush and the Obama Administrations have been rigorous and excellent in combating terrorist attacks. The record is, in fact, remarkable. But you can’t stop them all–and the promotion of the idea that we can entirely safe and protected from this filthy, insidious threat is a dangerous delusion. The fact that the Boston attack came from two Chechen brothers who probably–but not definitely–were lone wolves was a scenario that no one could have predicted. The ricin letters addressed to public officials, including the President, last week allegedly came from an individual who may have been mentally disturbed. We live in a society where all sorts of lethal weapons are available–and where anti-government paranoia is encouraged–at both deep ends of the political spectrum. (Although, in recent decades, the right has far outstripped the left in its nuttiness). But…

4. We have been very lucky. There have been precious few of these attacks, a fact that has mystified law enforcement and security professionals. It is extremely easy to create terror in this country. Home made bombs can wreck shopping malls, sports events…and elementary schools.

In the months after 9/11, I participated in a successful terrorist attack on an elementary school in a St. Louis suburb. It was staged, of course, by a government agency, but it was scary as hell. Our team secured shotguns with a phone call to a gun shop. We had an Israeli security official along for the ride ask, in a heavy foreign accent, a woman in the school’s office, “When is the next school assembly?” She cheerily told him it would be Wednesday afternoon, for Halloween. We were able to case our points of entry and exit without any questions asked. It is simply remarkable that we haven’t had a slew of attacks against soft targets. And therefore…

5. We’re going to have to be far more vigilant now. Copycats may be out there.

6. And I would urge those in the media who speak of the United States government as if it were a foreign entity to chill out. You may be further poisoning the demented. Criticism of the government is, of course, as American as oxycontin…but it is our government and this is our President. You may disagree with one program or another–you may think (wrongly) that Obamacare is socialistic, you may think that the Patriot Act is part of a ruinous, possibly conspiratorial invasion of privacy–but this President has proved time and again that he is a strong American patriot. Any inferences otherwise may reap the whirlwind.

7. As the President said, Boston is a piece of me, too. I began my career there. Far more important, my terrific son, Terry, his wife, Lindsay and my two absolutely perfect granddaughters, Zoe and Bibi, live there. I had my heart in my mouth on Monday–and again on Friday, when the younger Tsarnaev was on the loose. I wonder what the long-term impact of this week of horror will be on the girls…and on all Bostonians. It truly is a unique and fabulous American place. My kind of town: obsessed with sports and politics. And this week, in their feisty calm and courageous grace, Bostonians have shown the rest of the world why so many of us love them so.

Somewhere in our recent history American got the idea that bad things are never supposed to happen and if they do then obviously someone screwed up.

We have become a nation of quivering, whimpering cowards. Did out grandparents whine and complain about the Great Depression or the bombing of Pearl Harbor or did they roll up their sleeves and get on with life?

It seems the easier our lives get the less tolerance we have for the tragedies that are inevitable to human existence.

As noted, very easy to terrorize, much harder or impossible to stop completely that kind of thing. Live your lives and think not of terrorism. That is what people have been doing for decades anyway. What kind of complete wuss lets his life be changed or dictated by terrorism. Nobody. Cuz everyone has sufficient brain cells to realize it is completely random, like winning the lottery. If your number is up, it will happen but the odds are so mightily against it that it is stupid to think or worry about.

"...indeed, in the days since the Boston attack, there have been those on the left who have warned against further government intrusion into our lives..."

(Known leftist) John Adams: "Every subject has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches,
and seizures of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his
possessions. All warrants, therefore, are contrary to this right, if the
cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or
affirmation; and if the order in the warrant to a civil officer, to make
search in suspected places, or to arrest one or more suspected persons,
or to seize their property, be not accompanied with a special
designation of the persons or objects of search, arrest, or seizure: and
no warrant ought to be issued but in cases, and with the formalities,
prescribed by the laws."

I love how Klein praises Obama in this event. Obama deserves no recognition. Does he fail to understand the Obama has cut Homeland security spending by 45% compared to Bush, to fund his other pet projects. As usual, his only move is reactionary instead of being proactive in dealing with these events. All the praise should go to the Bostonians and local and regional law enforcement. Let's not make this tragedy another platform to push the left wing agenda on unrelated matters. Quite honestly we all need to accept a little less privacy and be less tolerant to avoid events like this from happening again. This country really needs to get a handle on immigration and student visas - not to say that this will avoid events like this, but it sure will cut down on the chances.

So what you are saying is shut up.. Only the insiders know best. Let in everyone from any country regardless of whether the population of that country cheers when we get hit and when large numbers of our citizens are killed. This has happened many times after an attack on our embassies, our ships, our country. But let them all in anyway.

Too bad, I disagree with you and the president. We have to stop opening the doors of our country to just everyone regardless of their country or views of hatred for us and our way of life. That does not make us safer.

"...there have been those on the left who have warned against further government intrusion into our lives. I am not at all worried about that, not even slightly…" - Joe Klein

Where do we turn when the Fourth Estate, which is supposed to be the watchdog of liberty, is blindly complicit in the erosion of liberty? A vigorous free press is supposed to act as a check on government infringement of our guaranteed freedoms, but instead has become little more than celebrity bloggers and amateur tweeters.

You are not concerned, Mr. Klein? Not even slightly?

Did you sleep through the last ten years, as the press was complicit in the illegal and unwarranted invasion of Iraq and the rolling back of civil liberties through the Patriot Act (an ironically named bill, if ever there was one)? No, you weren't sleeping. You were right there with much of the rest of the celebrity media, supporting both.

It does not surprise me you are not concerned. People like you in the press have long since given up your role as the voice of the American people.

Shame on you, Mr. Klein. That statement is a disgrace to the memory of Edward R. Murrow, Seymour Hersh, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and the countless other journalists whose mission was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

The Obama Administration has deported immigrants at a faster rate than the previous Bush Administration. Customs and Border Protection funding is 64% higher than during the Bush Administration in 2006. Illegal border crossings are at their lowest level in 40 years. Net migration -- newly arrived immigrants minus those leaving (forced or voluntarily) -- has come to a standstill.

As former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts."

@guitarplayer1969 Do you realize Bush started a useless war based on complete lies that profited a handful of private corporations in which his family has stake holdings in, at the cost of my future economic stability ??

This country needs a handle on the growing number of right-wing morons.

Tell me, what proactive action did W make that was decent and honest, never mind intelligent and patriotic? Seriously, Bush compared to Obama?!

@moneypro No, he is not saying that, he is asking for a little perspective, but you evidently seem incapable of any nuance or comprehension.

But then, it was support from the likes of you that started the still extremely expensive war from lies that Bush started. That war based on lies by the way is now costing us, you and I, our economic future.

@lelandwi11iams Dems asleep at the switch during 9/11 in Bengahazi? Did you have the same amount of outrage when the FBI memos warning Bush about impending attacks on the US homeland came out. It seems both he and Condi were repeatedly warned more than a month in advance and chose to ignore the warning since they didn't want to be distracted from finding a reason to invade Iraq. In what twisted partisan world does the death of 4 US employees in a post combat zone generate more outrage than the death of 3000 civilians on US soil?

@daena.vassar@guitarplayer1969 "War based on lies..." Not lies if WMD's can be pressure cooker bombs as the Feds charge the remaining Boston bomber. Land mines in Iraq would qualify for WMDs. The Fed charges are strange compared to acts of treason including 4 counts of first degree murder, 190 counts of attempted murder causing mayhem on civilians and law enforcement personnel, kidnapping, armed robbery, resisting arrest ... getting a conviction on WMD charge for pressure cooker bombs seems designed to fail.

Saddam was hardly an angel, but everyone seems to forget that and wants to make him and Iraq innocent in their terrorist activities. And we all know the presidential office does not have the sole ability to take us to war on their own- He and the gov were basing their decision on the intelligence provided about WMDs which proved to be wrong. But in the meantime we also dismantled the Al Queda terrorist network. In any case we were acting proactively and disengaging a threat which is something Obama is incapable of doing. This administration is reactive rather than proactive in nature and in the fight against terrorism,and that doesn't work.. Let's face it, the only reason why Obama was able to locate and take out Osama Bin Laden was because of the Intel framework system and groundwork laid out under the Bush administration.

Its a sad state of affairs but we are always one step behind the terrorists and because of that we have a rough time ahead.

And regarding your future economic stability, which is mine as well as I am in my early 40s,you should be more concerned about this administration domestic economic policy over the last 4 years and what it will do to generations to come. It will dwarf the expense of the war when all is said and done.

@paulejb@glennra3 I guess the world needs to change it's views to coincied with Chucks - why this dumb website called Wikipedia talks about a war in which US troops fought- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War. Ignorant rednecks, what do they know, it's war when the RWNH says so.

@paulejb@redrascal@glennra3 That did not stop you from shooting your mouth of Chuck, read what I have posted above first, this act is the lies that were accepted by all as the nation was under threat and people did not want to be seen as non patriotic, this dates to 2002, and is based on faulty intelligence which is proven by what I have posted above, which is dated 2012 and 2013, if you would read it- you would understand it, it is in English and that might read like Stupid to you, but make an effort, then come back and shoot yer lip Chuck. But hey why bother, heck Bush jr never read anything before signing up for war so why should you ? Go ahead Chuck in your usual style just hack away with lies and deceit.

@paulejb@redrascal@glennra3 This is conjecture, versus the fact that no Weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Which was the publicly stated reason for going to war in Iraq, so it was a lie and the war was based on a lie.

"The director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation, George Entwistle, resigned Saturday after only 54 days in the role - the latest to be caught in the wake of a child sex-abuse scandal that has thrown the 90-year-old publicly funded behemoth and other U.K. institutions into deepening turmoil."